While tokusatsu franchises like Godzilla, Kamen Rider, and Ultraman continue to breach new horizons, Japan isn’t the only place creating new henshin heroes. In fact, the thirst for tokusatsu is global – from America’s Irish mythology-themed Mystic Knights, to France’s Sentai-inspired France Five, to South Korea’s very Power Rangers-esque Armorsaurs series, other countries have been creating their own toku shows for decades. Even a mysterious Hollywood production starring Matt Damon and a theatrical release of Legend of the White Dragon have tried to fill the recent void left by the Super Sentai/Power Rangers cancellation.
Now, it’s Singapore’s turn. Playbox Studios is bringing their own self-financed tokusatsu creation to Kickstarter – and hopefully the world – with Special Response Genforcer, a project inspired by Super Sentai and Metal Heroes. Today, we’re interviewing one of the masterminds behind the pilot, Creative Producer Basil Yeo.
Kaiju United: First and foremost, tell us: What is Special Response Genforcer?
Basil Yeo: Special Response Genforcer is an independent Singaporean superhero series project inspired by the iconic tokusatsu genre, and our local first responders. It’s heavily influenced by the Metal Heroes genre, although the team dynamic surely also makes it reminiscent of Super Sentai. We are currently raising funds on Kickstarter to produce a pilot episode for a potential series!
KU: What is the presence of tokusatsu like in Singapore? Will this feel like something new for many Singaporeans?
BY: Singaporeans would be, to a certain extent, familiar with Tokusatsu heroes but not Tokusatsu as a genre/technique. We’ve had the fortune of having several shows broadcast on tv, or sold in video stores, since the 80s, and then the onset of the MMPR phenomenon.
But Tokusatsu here remains, by-and-large, a niche product and still viewed as something for kids/teens that you grow out of when you grow up. I don’t think the average Singaporean is aware that there are adults who watch Tokusatsu too.
Note: In case you wanted to know what shows were on air:
80s – Gavan, Kamen Rider Black
90s – Ultraman Tiga, Dyna, Great, Powered, MMPR-PRLR, Fiveman, Flashman, Maskman
2000s – Kamen Riders Ryuki, Faiz, Blade, Gransazer, Ryukendo, PRTF-PRRPM (NS and SPD were very popular)
KU: With the plan to release the pilot episode globally, will it be available in English?
BY: English is the primary language of communication here in Singapore, so Genforcer will primarily be in English. I’m hoping that we will be able to portray our society accurately, therefore I am not counting out the presence of our other main languages and dialects being used, where appropriate. These will definitely be subtitled for the benefit of our international viewers.
What made you choose to focus your theme on first responders?
In 2022, my co-creator and I wanted to create an original local superhero that would fit in the vein of tokusatsu superheroes that they loved growing up. The world was coming out from the Covid19 pandemic then, and we wanted some elements of our idea to pay tribute to the efforts of first responders. Hence, Genforcer was born!
KU: What made you choose to theme their callsigns after dogs?
BY: Naming the heroes is always a massive challenge. We’ve explored other themes like astronomy, elements, European or Southeast Asian mythology, but they didn’t feel unique or right.
Then, while looking for appropriate names, I realized that our Air Force squadrons always had flying animal/insect-themed nicknames, so we thought search-and-rescue dog breeds may actually be it, and as it turned out, they were! They’re fun and relatable, and why those breeds in particular? They match the personality traits of our characters!
KU: What can you tell us about the process of designing the elaborate, Metal Heroes-inspired Genforcer suits?
BY: It was a process that took about 1.5 years that evolved along with the project concept.
Genforcer was originally more like [The Mobile Cop] Jiban, a singular hero cop in armour, who would be supported by a team of elite, but non-armoured rescuers. You can see this influence in the initial colour scheme, but it didn’t feel outstanding enough. At this point, we had an idea of the name ‘Cobalt’ for the codename of the hero, but no title for the project yet.
Later, as the concept evolved further, it really started to be more influenced by the Rescue Police trilogy, and we came up with ideas for a second armoured character, who would be a firefighter/paramedic.
Still, we decided to bring on a character designer, Dan Sya (@masayasazuki on IG/Twitter) who was interested to come onboard, take what we had done, and reimagine it.
It was here when we decided to bite the bullet, not think about the budget too much, and go full on and do a trio of armoured heroes instead, each representing a vocation of our primary emergency services (Police, Firefighter, Paramedic). It was also at this juncture that we decided to use primary colours for the suit designs (for a friendlier, brighter tone to the heroes).
With the different vocations in mind, Dan Sya took inspiration from the vehicles and uniforms of our local emergency services to design the armour parts for the characters. He also designed a base armour system which we would eventually call the ‘Unity Armour’ (named after the core values of our Home Team), that will form the base for any future armoured Genforcer characters that may come after the original trio.
At one point in time, we did explore having only one set of armour that would be switchable between the Operators based on their vocation, with a shared backpack being the primary delivery system, but we dropped the idea because this would mean showcasing all three characters at one go during events would be an inaccurate depiction of the narrative. (Also, as a plot device, it can potentially get stale really quickly!)
We’ve posted our concept design process before:
KU: What can you tell us about the villains?
BY: There’s no single villain group pulling the strings behind the curtains. Instead, we’re looking at ‘Incidents’ that could be high-tech crime and terrorism-related or they could be hazardous accidents in which civilians need to be rescued, that requires the specialised technology that Genforcer has access to.
But we’re also looking at this from the point-of-view that if the heroes have access to such technology, then dissidents, terrorists, criminals, etc. would naturally have access to similar, opposing technology. One such group (fictional, of course) is Red Horizon, that we’ve introduced in the comic, Condition Zero. They’re basically a radical group that seeks to topple national governments in favour of a new, united world order.
Another is Pandora, a powerful shadow collective that provides resources for such characters through cryptocurrency and blockchain… But they don’t necessarily seek to control. Think of them like an untraceable, evil philanthropist.
KU: Given its inspirations, will Genforcer be fighting monsters and kaiju? And any chance we’ll see them use giant robots?
BY: Giant monsters and kaiju are things that are out of our scope of ability for now… So no giant robots or mecha for Genforcer.
But doing a kaiju thing has always been a dream of mine, especially with how we’ll be able to really push the envelope in terms of making Tokusatsu here in this region, so that’s something I do hope to explore down the line.
KU: What’s been the most challenging part of crafting Genforcer?
BY: I think funding is always the most challenging aspect of bringing any project to fruition, especially one that’s heavily centered around a live-action production that’s costume and special effects heavy.
I’ve had plenty of suggestions from industry colleagues to start this off as an animated work, but animation is a completely different ballgame than live-action. We’re not an animation studio to begin with, and that actually means it might cost us more to do it animated than if we were to stick to our guns and do it in live-action.
Another challenge we have is balancing the momentum of the project against the sustainability of Playbox’s core business as a media production company. For some reason, our peak periods for client work often overlap with when events take place, so we’re always trying to meet deadlines while making sure that Genforcer keeps running!
KU: It was great to see that you won’t be using generative AI. What drove you to take that stance?
BY: I don’t feel like it’s as much of a big deal as people make it out to be, as much as it is the right thing to do. Tokusatsu superhero shows often speak about doing the right thing, saving the world, a better future, etc. It can’t be better if we’re selfishly destroying our means for survival for our own personal or corporate gain.
As a team, we felt the need to make our policy on Generative AI extremely clear because we’re a little tired from entertaining talk about the ‘potential’ of using Gen AI to accelerate production and reduce costs.
Also, as a creative, if we really want to make Tokusatsu, and if it’s going to be such a huge part of what makes our project tick, I think that we have to remember that special effects filmmaking matters as much as the superhero element does. Using Generative AI to speedrun the process defeats the whole purpose of it being Tokusatsu in the first place. It may be a product, but it won’t be Tokusatsu.
KU: It’s clear that you’re inspired by Super Sentai and Metal Heroes, especially the Rescue Police trilogy. Can you talk about your team’s tokusatsu influences and what drew you all to them?
BY: Collectively, my co-creators and I have shows that we enjoy, and those form the bulk of the influence that goes into creating Genforcer. Besides the obvious Metal Heroes and Super Sentai influences, the three of us are huge Ultraman fans as well. Hence, we’ve also studied themes and characters from some of the shows for Genforcer. SRG, as an agency, is pretty much modelled after an Ultra Defense Team.
In fact, the original concept of a solo hero supported by a team of rescuers, actually does mirror the Ultraman-defense team relationship.
But we also have very diverse tokusatsu influences on our own. I shan’t speak for my co-creators but personally, I’m a big fan of the Showa and early Heisei stuff, because those are the shows that I grew up with and were a big part of my formative years. I would cite Kamen Rider Kuuga, UltraSeven, Ultraman Tiga and Dekaranger as being very big influences for me, because I enjoy interesting ways of shooting and sci-fi stories that provoke our thoughts.
I also very thoroughly enjoyed Gavan because it had an extremely charismatic protagonist who was action-inclined. I think that drove the decision to bring on actors who have a high level of competency in stunt work.
KU: Though producing the pilot is the goal of your Kickstarter, do you already have story ideas for the long term? If so, can you give us any previews?
BY: As we’ve been developing this for a few years now, we’ve had many story ideas for a full series that continue to evolve as time goes along. One of the broad concepts that we have in mind does relate to how humans have wildly different perspectives when it comes to technological advancement, and we see that continuing to be a greater trend especially with AI being a dominant and divisive talking point these days.
As Genforcer is centered around tech-based enhancements to law enforcement and rescue capabilities, the opposite must be true as well (a.k.a. the villains of our story have similar access to rogue tech), therefore the ethical and responsible use of technology could become a key driver of the story. It’s impossible to ignore this in our work.
KU: If you’re able to get a full series greenlit, is your intention to make that available globally?
BY: Absolutely. Definitely. Yes! We know that there’s a huge following for Tokusatsu worldwide and it is our intention that you will get to see it regardless of where you are in the world.
But this will also be subject to contract terms with any network partner, investor or distributor who is footing the bill.
KU: Lastly, what dream piece of merchandise would you love to make if this series finds success?
BY: Personally, I’d always loved DX transformation toys, so I would love to have a functioning Generator.
KU: Thank you for your time, Basil.
It’s an exciting to be a Tokusatsu fan and, from the sound of it, Genforcer will be a treat. At the time of this publication, Genforcer is still in its Kickstarter campaign and you can support the campaign by visiting the link provided here.
